Middle-School “Types” at the Office

By Mariam Brillantes

My 12-year-old and her friends were looking at their class photo one recent afternoon, pointing out who in the class were the “leaders,” “followers” and “outcasts.”

My daughter took it as a badge of honor that her friends classified her as an outcast — neither leader nor follower — though she’s probably one of the most well-liked, sociable kids in her class. She’s comfortable going her own way, weaving in and out of the various social group dynamics in school.

Among the other types of kids were: “the pretty committee” (kids who, taken individually, are actually nice, but as a group can be pretty intimidating), “the smart kids,” “the teacher’s pets,” “the hangers-on” and “the rebels.”

Their conversation made me think about how we, as adults, define ourselves in the work world. Perhaps our office spaces weren’t so different from our middle school classrooms, and that the categories of leader, follower and outcast still applied.

Most management tomes say that to be a good leader, you have to be a good follower. But I think many of us are both.

We are followers to the extent that we have to do what our bosses want and what our job requires. We may also want to be team players, something of a “follower” role.

We can be leaders by taking the initiative on a project or in fostering camaraderie at work.

I imagine many of us worry about being “outcasts.” Some of us are outcasts in the sense that we’re not plugged into goings-on in the office or don’t feel privy to information that can help advance careers. Or we can be outcasts simply by not being familiar with certain more social subjects (like the latest sports news or TV shows or pop music).

Readers, how would you classify yourself? Are there other office “types” at your workplace? And are you different now than when you were as an adolescent?

Comments (5 of 55)

Let me know how it goes. Last summer in Vancouver we discovered Gelarmony Gelato Cafe. They had amazing flavors that I had never seen before in Gelato. I liked to get a scoop of green tea and a scoop of toasted black sesame. I'm wondering if they used the steeping method to introduce their flavors to the gelato.

4:56 pm April 16, 2012

To SBJ wrote :

@SBJ -- Thank you for the recipe! I'd love to try this.

10:14 pm April 14, 2012

Francisco Rius wrote :

Many of our personality traits are exaggerated at work, especially as we move up the ladder. In middle school you still have parents or the occasional tough guy that will send a kid's attitudes of grandeur back to the floor - some natural checks and balances. At work, power allows people to bring out their quirks and insecurities without much negative consequence. I see it over and over: high powered executives bashing projects or asking questions that they know can't be answered, simply to show their power. Big blow ups by bossess about small mistakes - bratty "I am better than you" attitudes.

The funny thing, we all put up with it - and given the power, we might end up doing the same.

8:37 pm April 13, 2012

SBJ wrote :

My fudge base recipes come from "Wild About Fudge" by Marilyn Myerly, specifically her Easy Chocolate Fudge, Brown Sugar Creme Fudge, and Vanilla Creme Fudge. I then add different flavor combinations. She uses a method of time and temperature to determine doneness. I prefer to use the softball method. Adding alcohol and/or exotic flavors impacts how easily and how long it takes to get to the softball stage. This last year I was happy with the flavors, but the consistency wasn't as firm as I would have liked.

Add 2 cups bakers sugar, 2 TB light corn syrup, and 1/4 tsp salt to tea liquid. Cook on medium high until it reaches the softball stage. (If you add alcohol you have to watch carefully because it wants to boil over.) I usually will stir it at the beginning to get everything mixed together, and then stir it periodically to watch what stage it is in as it drips off my stirring spoon.

Once you have reached the softball stage, pour it into a 9x13x1 pan (do not scrape the sauce pan) and let cool for 5 minutes. While it is cooling prep your finish container. I use cellophane in a 8.5" Calphalon bread pan with tapered edges. The tapering makes it easier to lift out the pan. Also while it is cooling you can add dried fruit, nuts, or extracts. The recipe calls for adding 2 TB of butter cut into pieces and 1 tsp of vanilla extract. If you are adding other extracts reduce/eliminate the vanilla extract.

After the 5 minutes, stir the fudge, butter and other added ingredients with a spatula. You will need to constantly stir until the fudge thickens and holds its own shape, which could take at least 5 minutes if not more. Before it thickens too much, pour it into your finish container. Let it cool and then wrap tightly.

This recipe produces 1 pound of fudge. I usually make around 16 pounds of different flavors to give as gifts for the holidays. I start after Thanksgiving and hopefully finish the weekend before the last week of school before winter break. After letting the fudge sit out overnight, I put it into the freezer. The nuts tend to soften, even though I toast them first, so those are the last batches that I make.

I got the idea for lavender from Mollie Moon's lemon lavender ice cream in Seattle. For my lavender fudge I substituted 1 TB of lavender flowers for the green tea. My notes for next year recommend that I only steep it for 5 minutes instead of 10. My notes indicate that I just made lavender fudge, but if I were to make lemon lavender, I would substitute 1 tsp lemon extract for the 1 tsp vanilla in the stirring pan.

Sorry for the lengthy post, but this is something I've been working on for the last 20 years or so.

8:08 pm April 13, 2012

Anonymous wrote :

hey you get this in the stay at home mom world too!

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